Angry in the Great White North

On Monday, May 21, my wife answered a late afternoon knock at the door from a young man selling artwork door-to-door. We weren't interested, but my wife thought it odd how he seemed only marginally interested in her answer and took a moment to look past her into the house and at then at my young daughter who was at the door curious at what was going on.

Later that evening, with the babysitter settled in, my wife and I went to run some errands. Across the street, smoking a cigarette, was the art salesman, loitering. We thought it a bit odd, but I offered the explanation that he might be waiting to be picked up. We also wondered if he was casing our house. Unlikely, we figured, but not taking any chances, I got out of the car, went back in the house, and enabled the alarm. I told the babysitter to note any strange activity.

We did our errands, returned, and noticed he was gone. The property seemed secure. Quite late in the evening, around two in the morning, we were still up (I was watching Scarface, and my wife was online). She went past the front door and then immediately came back to tell me to call the police.

She thought she saw the same man, across the street and touching a neighbour's car. Another figure crossed the street from our immediate neighbour's driveway and joined the first man. The first man had something in his hand. The two went up the street.

I called the Waterloo Regional Police Service through 911 and reported the suspicious activity. The officer taking the call said that was second call they had received about suspicious activity, and that officers could now zero in on the location. After I completed the call, I waited twenty minutes, then got in the car to take a look. Three blocks up from our house, on our street, four cruisers had clustered together and officers were out of their vehicles deep in discussion. It was too dark to see in the cruisers clearly, so the next day, I wrote to the Inspector Barry Zehr who is responsible for Cambridge, and today he filled me in on what exactly happened:

Thank you for your email …yes, there was another caller and police response was excellent. Officers located, arrested and charged three males (ages 17, 18, and 20) with theft from vehicles. The offenders were released from custody on Promise to Appears (with court dates). There were two identified victims (their vehicles had been entered) and their property was returned in the morning.

We appreciate your assistance. It is citizens like you who help to increase safety in our neighbourhoods. Good work. I am copying your email to Staff Sergeant *****, who also responded to your call, in case any additional information is required from you.

Well, that seemed to work out well. Vigilant citizens and responsive police. Everyone doing their bit, combined with some dumb luck, and our little bit of Canada is a smidgen safer. And my neighbours got their stolen property back. I know this is too local for most of my readers to care much, but I thought it was neat story.